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Features

How to Photograph Cosplayers: An Interview with Beethy

Chris Gampat
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09/26/2013
4 Mins read

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All images by Beethy. Used with permission

New York Comic Con isn’t too far away, and every year lots of photographers and people who call themselves photographers converge on the area to take pictures of cosplayers. Cosplay, for those not aware, is a portmanteau of costume and play–and it ranges back to ancient Chinese culture. And so at conventions, people often dress up as characters.

While some will sit there and simply snap photos of someone’s costume, others will actually try to create full shoots. And one of those photographers is Beethy. He has been well known in the cosplay community for a while. He recently sat down to talk with us about cosplay photography, honing your craft and how to make your portfolio of images better.

Phoblographer: How did you get into photography in the first place and how did you work on improving yourself?

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Beethy: Thanks to my girlfriend at the time. She lent me her 2 megapixel digital camera. I instantly fell in love. I started by taking photos of everything around me like most people. Once I started focusing on portraiture I decided to get more serious which is why I sought after brutal and relentless critique on forums. Most notably /p/ on 4chan. Who figured that would be the best place to go for unfiltered critique back then. pokemon_white___hilda___touko__03__by_beethy-d65aeys

Phoblographer: When did you know that what you love doing is shooting cosplayers?

Beethy: After I went to my first convention with a camera which was at Sydney Supanova in 2009 I just fell in love with the colourful subjects and everything. People were surprisingly very excited to get their photos taken. Following that, well, the response was absolutely insane. Cosplayers loved my work. This felt great!

Phoblographer: Tell us about what’s in your gear bag these days?

Beethy: For the last 2-3 years or so it’s been a Canon 1000D, but I upgraded to a Canon 6D a few weeks ago. Haven’t shot with it yet though. Lens wise I carry the 50mm f/1.8 and the 17-40mm f/4 L with me. I used to use two external flashes through umbrellas, however I found that this slowed my process overall.

Phoblographer: What are some tips that you can give to folks that want to become better cosplay photographers?

yoko_littner__02__by_beethy-d6inj9h Beethy: Be energetic, be excited! Seriously. You see someone you like the look of, just approach them and go shoot with them. Collaborate with them creatively, cosplayers have a ton of fantastic ideas that you can incorporate easily in your current style. On top of that you absolutely have to be hungry for critique. Without it you will possibly stagnate and you may take very long to reach your true potential.

Phoblographer: What do you think makes for a good cosplay photograph?

Beethy: I think colour coordination within the image is extremely important. Combined with killer composition of course. The reason why I think colours are so important is because a lot of costumes and wigs are super colourful. You need to harmonize that well with your background.

Phoblographer: When you work with cosplayers for the first time, do you break potential nervousness of the subject? This is something lots of folks face when they go to Comic Con, PAX or other conventions.

Beethy: I try my best to make them feel special. I want my shoot with them to feel like a super fun and different experience. If a cosplayer is a little stiff and nervous, I’ll direct them more.

Phoblographer: DeviantArt is still an extremely strong community for the cosplay world. What are some tips that you have on increasing your influence, presence and on building a portfolio?

Beethy: Hard to say. It just kinda happened for me. As a cosplay photographer it’s extremely hard to make it on Deviantart. As far as I know only Kirawinter and myself generally do well. The rest is dominated by cosplayers. To answer your question, I believe that if you try your best to put out quality work you will eventually succeed.

Phoblographer: When does your specific vision for a final photo hit you: before the shoot, during the shoot, or during the editing process?

Beethy: Usually during the shoot. This may have something to do with the fact that I generally roughly know what I will do in Photoshop. If there’s cars or people in the shot, I know I can easily get rid of em. When I do get ‘that shot’ I will jump like crazy from excitement and feel really good. It’s kinda dorky but I can’t help it.

Phoblographer: If you had to choose one image that is your absolute favorite in your portfolio, what would it be and why?

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Beethy: Funnily enough it’s not a cosplay shot. It’d be my photo titled ‘Anxiety’. I think it’s my most important and personal piece.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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